Vinicius Júnior will be the main protagonist of the friendly that will take place this Tuesday (9:30 p.m.) at the Santiago Bernabéu against Spain and Brazil. The Real Madrid forward, who has been a victim of numerous episodes of racism in Spanish fields (El Sadar, Montjuic, Metropolitano, Mestalla, Mallorca, Seville…), appeared at a press conference in Valdebebas, in the Florentine Football City Pérez, where the Brazilian team trained minutes after the Real Madrid player attended the media.
His fight against racism
The Brazilian began by talking about what he is suffering with these racist episodes. “It is very sad what is happening regarding these cases of racism. I fight so that in the near future it doesn’t happen to anyone. It happened to my father too and when they had to choose between him and a black man, they always chose the other.” The Madrid player also wanted to remember those who support him: “I want to thank all the footballers in Spain who have supported me and all the people who show me their support. I feel supported because there are more and more people talking about this and although there is racism in Spain and in the world, I hope that less and less is talked about this. There are people who support me, but they are white people talking about racism and we need more representative people perhaps.”
Vinicius spoke about what pushes him to continue fighting to eradicate racism from football fields: “I draw the strength to continue fighting from my family and the fans who show me their support in these difficult times. The lack of punishment frustrates me. “It is important that these people who commit acts of racism are punished because then they will be afraid to commit it.”. And he left a very clear message: “Football is important, but fighting against racism is even more important.”
The striker confirmed that he has worked with football institutions to stop these racist outbreaks in the stands of football fields: “I have spoken with FIFA, UEFA and Commebol to work with them against racism. I have also done it with La Liga, but the problem is that in Spain racism is not a crime. There are many racists here and many are in the stadiums. At 23 years old, I have to teach what racism is. Since I denounced racism the first time, this has grown. They know that what they tell me about the color of my skin can affect me when I play and that’s why they do it. “I just want to play and I would like to go to all the fields with the peace of mind that the color of my skin does not matter.”
Brazil and the future of Endrick
Regarding the Bernabéu match he commented the following: “Tomorrow we play at my house against a great team like Spain and I hope to play and that we can win on a very important night.” The Real Madrid player also spoke about his teammate Endrick, who will also join Real starting in the summer: “I have seen him grow since he was very little and I am proud of how he is growing. “He is going to come to a very big team and he has to be prepared to hear a lot of people talk who will say good things about him and a lot of people who will say bad things.”
2024-03-25 15:34:52
#problem #Spain #racism #crime
